October is my favorite month here in Kentuckiana and Halloween is always a fun time to get creative. These spooky skeleton brownies rising from the grave are the perfect haunted delicious treat. Boo! A good friend of mine was throwing a Halloween party for her teenage granddaughter and I baked 50 of these for her party, so fun! The brownies are made from a brownie mix and the candy molds I used are from Wilton, although I believe they are no longer available. I’m sure you can find something similar to use - I’ve included a few ideas at the bottom of this recipe.  I hope you and your family make these brownies together to get into the spirit of Halloween!

Spooktacular Brownies

Brownie Ingredients:

• 2 boxes Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix (19.9 ounces each)

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 1/2 cup water

• 4 large eggs

Brownie Directions:

Following the directions on the box of Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix, add the contents of both boxes into a large mixing bowl. Now add in 1/2 cup water, 1 cup oil and 4 eggs, stirring until well combined. I like to use a Danish Dough Whisk for this recipe - it makes it easier to stir the brownie mix. A fork or spoon is fine as well.

Spray or grease your mini loaf pans and then scoop brownie batter into each cavity of the pan. I like to use an ice cream scoop to make this part easier.

Bake the brownies 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the mini loaf comes out clean and free of crumbs. Remove pan from oven.  Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.  Then carefully remove each mini loaf, setting them all on a cooking rack. Allow to cool completely before applying frosting, 45-50 minutes. While they’re cooling, let’s make the frosting.

Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

• ⅔ cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• ⅓ cup milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Frosting Directions:

Stir butter and cocoa together. Add powdered sugar alternatively with milk. Use an electric mixer to make this frosting fluffy, creamy and spreadable. Add vanilla extract and mix again. If it’s still not thin enough to spread easily, add a small of amount of milk, one teaspoon at a time, until it’s the consistency of a thick pudding.

Wilton Candy Melt Ingredients:

• 1 package Wilton Candy Melts (12 ounces, white)

Wilton Candy Melt Directions:

Place the contents of the Candy Melts 12 ounce package in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 30 second intervals until melted.  The wafers will not appear to change shape, but they are melting.  Be sure to sir candy melts after each 30 second interval.  Remove from microwave and pour or spoon into a piping bag with a small hole cut in the end of the bag.  This should make it easier to fill the molds. Fill each cavity of the candy mold and gently tap the candy mold onto a hard surface to get the air bubbles to rise to the top. Now set aside, allowing the candy to harden. To speed the process, you may place the mold in the freezer, but make sure the mold is lying flat. When chilled, remove from freezer, turn over and tap on a hard surface.  The candy should just fall out of the mold and be ready to use.

Brownie Assembly Directions:

Now it’s magic time! Pipe icing onto 15 of the brownies using either an open decorating tip or simply slit the end of a plastic bag to allow the icing to flow out onto the brownies, creating a thick layer of icing. Now take the three un-iced brownies and crumble them up into ‘grave dirt’, sprinkling the crumbs onto the remaining 15 iced brownies.

Now take the white chocolate skeleton candy pieces and arrange them into each of the brownies, making it seem as if the bones are emerging from the grave. Spooky!

Tips and Tricks:

If you would like to recreate the scary village in the background of my brownie photos, you can make it yourself using a Cricut.

I purchased this beautiful design from the very talented Lia Griffith - she named it her 3D Paper Haunted Village.

Tools:

I’ve provided links to the pan I used, as well as a few different Halloween candy molds.